More details will emerge here, but The Eye has learned that the fire at 13 Madison Ave in West Peabody last night was no ordinary garage fire. Turns out that the owner of the property was likely storing a large amount of chemicals in the structure as part of a swimming pool service company.

The fire caused a strong odor, and a series of small, but frightening explosions before the Peabody Fire Department arrived.

Were it not for an outstanding job by the PFD, this could have spread to nearby homes, resulted in major property loss, and perhaps injuries to residents living in this Presidential Heights neighborhood.

“You could see the black smoke and the smell was really bad,” a neighborhood resident told us this morning. “There were a few explosions as well. It was very frightening.”

According to city records, the property is owned by Joseph Carpenito, who also owns Pools Unlimited. On its website, the company lists 13 Madison Ave as its office.

Below is a Google Earth image that shows the location. Note the close proximity of other homes. The large garage that burned is to the back right of the property.

We’ll bring you more details as they develop, but for now I just wanted to give you a heads up on another quality of life, and potential public safety issue that’s brewing on Route 1.

Latitude Sports Club is to the upper right. The triangular paved area to the left is the property in question. Pine Street runs across the bottom of the image.

The developer who owns the land on which the Latitude Sports Club was developed, has leased a parcel behind the club to a landscaping company.

We hear that the landscaping company has a conditional permit from the city to operate, but that there are some serious questions about what affect this operation will have on the extensive wetlands adjacent to the site. There are also additional public safety concerns around the fact that there is no fire hydrant on site, yet there is potential for flammable chemicals, such a fertilizer. Mulch, as we’ve seen, is also flammable. The site runs parallel to Pine Street, where there are several homes.

It also sounds like city officials, including the current ward councilor for this area, are trying to keep this quiet until a proper permit can be worked out. For example, no elected official has asked the building department to slap a cease and desist order on this company until the concerns can be addressed. They continue to operate, which sounds like business as usual on Route 1 when it comes to developers.

We’ve also learned that people who work for departments whose job it is to protect residents and our environment, have voiced their concerns to city officials, and have been told to stand down for now.

More to come, but if anyone in our audience knows more, please send me a confidential message.

The Peabody City Council’s Legal Affairs Committee did the right thing last night in voting to advance to a vote of the full City Council Mayor Ted Bettencourt’s request to remove the police and fire chief’s jobs from the jurisdiction of Civil Service.

Councilor At-Large Jim Liacos said it best last night when he argued that the Mayor should have the ability to “pick his own team” without being hamstrung by Civil Service scores. Removing the barrier allows Peabody to find the best candidate for filling those executive positions, starting with the selection of a new police chief when Chief Robert Champagne retires on June 1.

There is also the issue of a Mayor being able to fire a department head based on performance. Right now, unless there is some malfeasance, that’s not allowed under the Civil Service system.

Although Civil Service test scores need to remain an effective way of avoiding political patronage when it comes to hiring rank-and-file firefighters and police officers, a Mayor should have the right to pick his/her own department heads and executive team, regardless of test scores. I wrote about this earlier in the Eye, if you’d like to read more.

“We all want the best candidate, the most qualified person, for this critically important position and I believe removing the chief position, for both police and fire, from Civil Service gives us the best chance of finding the right person,” Bettencourt said.

Just three members of the Legal Affairs Committee were present last night, with Councilors Liacos and Bob Driscoll supporting the Mayor’s request. Councilor At-Large Anne Manning-Martin wasn’t supportive of the Mayor’s request.

The matter will now go before the full council on Thursday, where it’s expected to pass. The vote would serve as a home rule petition that the state legislature would then have to approve and have signed by the Governor.

When most people are running away from a dangerous situation, the brave men and women of our police and fire departments are running toward it.

I think of this adage in a huge way each September 11th, a day when hundreds of brave first responders made the ultimate sacrifice. And, we were reminded of it a week ago today when police and fire departments responded to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

A look at what the new Peabody Fire and Police Memorial might look like

Closer to home, and in just two days, we’ll memorialize the loss a year ago of one of Peabody’s finest, firefighter James Rice, who died as the result of injuries he sustained while fighting a blaze on Peabody’s Hancock Street.

It was an evening of honor for the Peabody Fire Department last night at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, as several of our brave firefighters were honored at 2012 Firefighter of the Year Awards,

Firefighter Jim Rice, who made the ultimate sacrifice when he lost his life a year ago while battling a fire on Hancock Street, received the Medal of Honor, the highest honor presented at the awards ceremony. Jim’s wife Amy, on behalf of Jim and their children Alyssa, Katelyn and Ryan, accepted the award last night from Governor Deval Patrick.

But it was also an evening to honor five additional Peabody heroes:

Deputy Chief Eric Harrison, who was a captain last December, received a Medal of Valor for his actions while going into the building on Hancock Street with his team in an effort to save Firefighter Rice, who had become trapped.

Fallen Peabody firefighter James Rice will be posthumously bestowed with an award for bravery and excellence in fire service tomorrow night during the annual Firefighter of the Year Awards at Mechanics Hall in Worcester.

Firefighter Rice, 42, died a year ago after inhaling toxic fumes while battling a three-alarm fire.

The phrase “off-duty” doesn’t matter when you are a firefighter. The mission is still the same: While everyone else is running away from an emergency. you run towards it.

Such was the case recently with Peabody firefighter David Limongiello, who wanted to do something for New Yorkers hit by Hurricane Sandy. So, going beyond the call of duty, and volunterring his own time, Limongiello loaded his 20-foot trailer with 3,000 pounds of donated supplies and headed off to help people of the devastated region.

And in a nice, heartwarming twist, turns out that Limongiello ran into firefighters in the New York metro area, who had earlier come to Peabody to pay their respects at the funeral of firefighter Jim Rice last December.